The Scottish Conservatives will hold a vote in Parliament today (Wednesday) condemning the SNP’s record of wasteful spending and economic ineptitude, which is set to cost ordinary Scots dear.
The party will lead a debate scrutinising the huge financial black hole that the Nationalists have created – and which they now plan to fill by slashing £1 billion from essential public services.
It’s estimated these cuts will lead to the loss of up to 17,000 jobs, as well as growth being revised downwards and a decline in real earnings.
A raft of essential public services – from early years learning, to the courts, the police, the fire and rescue service, and our universities – are to have their budgets frozen until 2027 as a result of the SNP’s Spending Review last week.
The Scottish Conservatives will examine how the SNP has presided over this economic mismanagement – when it has just received the biggest block grant from the UK Government – as well as choosing to make Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK.
They will also highlight how the SNP’s wasteful spending on the likes of the ferries fiasco, BiFab, the Rangers prosecutions and Prestwick Airport has impacted on the black hole, along with the decision to earmark £20 million for another independence referendum.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy Liz Smith MSP, said: “The responsibility for this shocking hole in the public finances is the SNP’s, and its alone.
“As usual, ministers will try to blame Westminster, but the reality is they have just received the biggest block grant ever from the UK Government.
“The SNP has squandered a fortune on failed public-spending initiatives – most notably the ferries fiasco – and now the Scottish people are set to pay for that economic incompetence.
“The savage £1 billion cut to public services means real-terms spending reductions for the entire justice system, early-years learning and universities and even to NHS and social care – along with a predicted loss of 17,000 public-sector jobs.
“That will act as a hammer blow to our essential services, as well as being personally devastating for those who lose their jobs.
“Scotland is already the highest taxed part of the UK and, with the SNP freezing income tax thresholds, around a quarter of a million extra workers will be dragged into the higher rate band in the coming years.
“What will anger them further, is that the SNP has still found £20million to fritter on pushing for another divisive independence referendum that the majority of Scots don’t want.”
Notes
Our motion reads: This Parliament is deeply concerned by many of the trends published within the recent analysis of the Scottish economy undertaken by the Scottish Fiscal Commission; in particular, is concerned by the revised down growth estimates and decline in real earnings; that the Scottish Government has imposed higher tax rates on Scotland without increasing revenues compared to the Block Grant Adjustment due to the ongoing issues relating to weaker productivity and inflexibilities within the Scottish labour market; is further concerned by the real terms cuts of more than £1 billion announced by the Scottish Government which will affect local government, the police and higher education amongst key services; and calls on the Scottish Government to commit to ensuring no Scots pay more income tax compared to the rest of the UK when finances allow, ensuring that policies to deliver long term growth, including collaborative projects with the UK Government such as City Deals, are a priority within Scottish Government spending plans, that a Finance Bill mechanism is introduced to evaluate the effectiveness of public spending and that plans for a second independence referendum are taken off the table.
Next year, the SNP Government will set aside £20 million to hold a divisive independence referendum. The Spending Review confirms that in 2023-24, the SNP Government will make £20 million available to hold a divisive independence referendum in 2023. (Resource Spending Review, Table 9, 31 May 2022, link).
Over the next four years, budgets for the police, prisons and universities are expected to be cut by £1.1 billion. The IFS confirm in their response to the SNP Government’s Spending Review: ‘Budgets for local government, the police, prisons, universities and rural affairs are due to fall by around 8% in real-terms over the next four years. This is equivalent to a real-terms cut of £1.1 billion from these areas of spending over four years. ’ (The IFS, 31 May 2022, link).
An estimated 17,000 public sector jobs could be cut as a result of the SNP’s Spending Review. Police officers, local councils, fire crews and universities are expected to take the largest hit as a result of the SNP’s spending review which cut the budgets of these bodies in real terms over the next few years. (Daily Telegraph, 6 June 2022, Page 12).
The Scottish Fiscal Commission confirm an extra quarter of a million workers will be brought into the higher rate income tax band due to the SNP’s decision to freeze the threshold. The Scottish Fiscal Commission confirm: ‘The change in our higher rate threshold will mean that a greater proportion of Scottish tax-payers will pay income tax at the higher rate. We estimate that the proportion of higher rate taxpayers will increase from 11.8 per cent of total tax payers in 2022-23, to 17.0 per cent by 2027-28. This would mean around 232,000 more tax-payers in 2027-28 than if we maintained an assumption of inflation uprating’ (SFC, 31 May 2022, link).
The SNP Government has received the largest ever block grant in devolution history, which will continue to rise in the future. The SNP Government will receive £35 billion in resource funding from the UK Government in 2022-23, higher than in any other year in the history of devolution. The UK Government’s Spending Review further sets out that in 2023-24, the SNP Government will receive £35.7 billion and £36.3 billion in 2024-25. The SNP Government estimates that in 2023-24, they will receive £250 million in Barnett consequentials followed by £400 million in 2024-25, hence there is a discrepancy in the UK Government and the SNP Government’s figures (Autumn Spending Review 2021, 27 October 2021, Page 90, link).